ELIZABETHA D.G. ANGLIAE FRANCIAE ET HIBERNIAE REGNA. MORTUA 1602.  
The most Excellent Princes of (Famous memory) ELIZABETH by the Grace of God Queen of England, France, and Ireland. defender of the Faith. &c. This maiden-queen Elizabeth, came into this world, the Eve of the nativity of the blessed virgin Mary: and died on the Eve of the Annunciation of the virgin Mary. 1602.  
Are to be sold by I. Sudbury or George Humble in 〈◊〉.  

She was she is (what can there more be said?)  
In earth the first, in heaven the second maid.   
R. Elstrak sculpsit   

Fragmenta Regalia, OR OBSERVATIONS ON THE LATE QUEEN ELIZABETH, Her Times and favourites.  
Written by Sir Robert Naunton, Master of the Court of Wards.  
Printed, Anno Dom. 1641.   

 
The most excellent Princes Elizabeth Queen of England, France, and Ireland, defender of the Faith &c. She reigned 44 years. died the 24 of March, 1602 aged 69, 6 months: and lieth buried at Westminster. Compton Holland excudit.   

FRAGMENTA REGALIA, OR OBSERVATIONS ON THE LATE QUEEN ELIZABETH, Her Times and favourites.  
TO take herein the original, 〈◊〉 was daughter to Henry the eighth, by Anne Bull●● 〈◊〉 second of six Wives, which He had, and one of the maids of Honour to the divorced Queen Katherine of Austria (or as they now style it) ●nfanta of Spain, and from thence taken into the royal Bed.  
That She was not of a most noble and royal extract by Her Father, will not fall into question, for on that side there was disimbogned into 〈◊〉 ●eins by a Confluence of blood, the very abstract of all the greatest houses in Christendom, and remarkable it is (concerning that violent desertion of the royal House of the Britains, by the invasion of the Saxons, and afterwards by the Conquest of the Normans, that by their vicissitude of times, and through a discontinuance (almost a thousand years) the royal sceptre should fall back into the Current of the old B●i●●sh blood, in the person of Her renowned Grandfather, Henry the seventh, together with whatsoever the German, Norman, Burgund●an, Castalian, and French achievements with the intermarriages, which eighth hundred years had acquired, incorporated, and brought back into the old royal rind.  
By Her Mother She was of no sovereign descent, yet Noble, and very Ancient in the Name, and Family of Bullen, though some erroneously brand it with a Citizens rise, or original, which was yet but of a second Brother, who (as it were) divining the greatness, and lustre to come to his House, was sent into the City to acquire wealth, ad edific 〈◊〉 antiquam domum, unto whose achievements (for he was Lord Major of London) fell in as it was averred, both the blood and inheritance of the eldest Brother, for want of issue Male, by which accumulation the house within a few descents mounted in Culmen hororis, and was suddenly lated into the best Families of England, and Irela●d as Haward, Ormund Sock●i●e, and divers other having thus touched, and now leaving Her strip, I come to Her Person; and as She came to the Crown by the decease of Her Brother and Sister: under Edward She was His, and one of the darlings of Fortune, for besides the consideration of blood, there was between these two Princes, a concurrency, and sympathy in their Natures, and affections together, with the celestial bond (Conformity in Religion) which made them one, and friends, for the King ever called Her His sweetest and dearest Sister, and was scarce His own man, She being absent, which was not so between Him and the Lady Mary.  
Under His Sister, She found Her condition much altered: for it was resolved, and her destiny had decreed to set Her an Apprentice in the School of affliction, and to draw Her through the ordeal fire of trial, the better to mould and fashion Her, to rule, and sovereignty: which finished, and Fortune calling to mind, that the time of Her servitude was expired, gave up Her Indentures, and therewith delivered up into Her Custody a sceptre, as a reward for Her patience, which was about the twenty sixth year of Her Age; a time in which (as for externals) She was full blown, so was She for Her internals grown ripe, and seasoned with adversity, and in the exercise of Her virtue, for it seems Fortune meant no more, then to show Her a piece of Her variety, and changeableness of Her Nature, and so to conduct Her Her destin●d Felicity.  
She was of personge tall, of hair and complexion fair, and therewith well favoured, but high nosed, of limbs, and feature neat, and which added to the lustre of those exterior Graces, of Stately, and majestic comportment, participating in this more of Her Father then Mother, who was of an inferior allay, plausable, or as the French hath it, more debonare, and affable, virtues, which might well suit with Majesty, and which descending, as Hereditary to the Daughter, did render Her of a more sweeter temper, and endeared Her more to the love and liking of the people, who gave Her the name and fame of a most gracious and popular Prince, the atrocity of Her father's nature, being rebated in Hers, by the mother's sweeter inclinations for to take, and that no more than the Character out of His own mouth, He never spared man in His anger, nor woman in His lust.  
If we search further into Her intellectuals and abilities, the whole course of Her government desciphers them to the admiration of posterity, for it was full of magnanimity tempered with justice, and Piety, and to speak truly, noted but with one act or taint, all Her deprivations either of life or liberty, being legal, and necessitated: She was learned (Her sex, and the time considered) beyond common belief; for letters about this time, and somewhat before, began to be of esteem, and in fashion, the former ages being overcast with the mists and fogs of the Roman ignorance, 〈◊〉 it was the maxim that overruled the foregoing times, that ignorance was the mother of devotion.  
Her wars were along time more, in the auxiliary part, in assistance of foreign Princes, and States, then by invasion of any, till common policy advised it for a safer way, to strike first, and broad, then at home, to expect the war, in all which she was felicious, and victorious.  
The change and alteration of Religion upon the instant of Her accession (the smoke and fire of Her sister's martyrdoms, scarcely quenched) was none of Her least remarkable accounts. But the support and establishment thereof, with the means of Her subsistence amidst so powerful enemies abroad, and those many domestic practices, were (methinks) works of inspiration, and of no human providence, which on Her sister's departure, She most religiously acknowledged, ascribing the glory of Her deliverance to God alone, for She received the news both of the Queen's death, and her proclamation, by the general consent of the House, and the public suffrage of the people, whereat, falling on her knees (after a good time of respiration) she uttered this Verse of the Psalms, A domino fa●tum est istud, & est in●nable inoculis nostris, which we find to this day on the stamp of her gold, with this on her silver, Posui Deumad, ●●●rem meum.  
Her Ministers and Instruments of State, such as were participes 〈◊〉 and bare a great part of the burden, were many, and those memorable, but they were only favourites, not Mimions; such as acted more by her own Princely rules and judgements, then by their own wills and appetites, which she observed to the last: for we find no Gaveston, Vere, or Spencer, to have swayed alone, during forty four years, which was a well settled, and advised maxim, for it valued her the more, it awed the most secure, and it took best with the people, and it starved all emulations, which are apt to rise and vent in obloquious acrimony (even against the Prince) where there is only A Major Palatii.  
The principal note of her reign, will be, that she ruled much by faction and parties, which herself, both made, upheld, and weakened, as her own great judgement advised, for I disassent from the common received opinion, that my Lord of Leicester, was absolute and above all in her Grace: and though I come somewhat short of the knowledge of those times: yet (that I might not rove, and shoot at random) I know it from assured intelligence, that it was not so, for proof whereof (among many that I could present) I will both relate, a short, and ther●●, a known truth; And it was thus, Bawyer a Gentleman of the Black-rod, being charged by her express command, to look precisely to all admissions into the Privy-Chamber, one day stayed a very gay Captain, and a follower of my Lord of Leicesters, from entrance; for that he was neither well known, nor a sworn servant to the Queen, at which repulse the Gentleman bearing high on my Lord's favour, told him, he might perchance procure him a discharge: Leicester coming into the Contestation, said publicly (which was none of his want) that he was a Knave, and should not continue long in his office; and so turning about to go into the Queen, Bowyer (who was a bold Gentleman, and well-beloved) stepped before him, and fell at Her Majesties feet, related the story, and humbly craves Her grace's pleasure, and whether my Lord of Leicester was King, or Her Majesty Queen, whereunto she replied, with her wonted oath (God's death) my Lord, I have wished you well, but my favour is not so locked up for you, that others shall not partake thereof, for I have many servants, unto whom I have, and will at my pleasure bequeathe my favour, and like wise resume the same, and if you think to rule here, I will take a course to see you forth coming, I will have here but one Mistress, and no Master; and look that no ill happen to him, lest it be severely required at your hands, which so quelled my Lord of Leicester, that his feigned humility, was long after one of his best virtues; Moreover the Earl of Sussex then Lord Chamberlain, was his professed Antagonist to his dying day; and for my Lord of Hunsdone, and Sir Thomas Sackvile, after Lord Treasurer (who were all Contemporaries) he was wont to say of them, that they were of the Tribe of Dan, and were Noli me tangeres, implying, that they were not to be contested with, for they were indeed of the Queens near kindred; from whence, and in more instances I conclude that she was absolute and sovereign Mistress of Her Graces: and that all those, to whom, she distributed her favours, were never more than Tenants at will, and stood on no better ground than her Princely pleasure, and their own good behaviour; and this also I present as a known observation, that she was (though very capable of council) absolute enough in her own resolutions, which was ever apparent even to her last, in that her aversation to grant Tyrone the least drop of her mercy, though earnestly and frequently advised, yea wrought only by the whole counsel of State, with very many pressing reasons; and as the state of her Kingdom then stood (I may speak it with assurance) necessitated Arguments.  
If we look into her inclination, as it is disposed either to magnificence, or frugality, we shall find in them many notable considerations, for all her dispensations were so poised, as though discretion and justice had both agreed to stand at the beam, and see them weighed out in due proportion, the maturity of her years, and judgement meeting in a concurrency, and at such an age as seldom lapseth to excess.  
To consider them apart, we have not many precedents of her liberality, or of any large donatives to particular men; my Lord of Essex Book of parks only excepted, which was a Princely gift, and some few more of a lesser size to my Lord of Leicester, Hatton, and others. Her reward consisted chiefly in grants of Leases, of Offices, and places of Indicature, but for ready money, and in any great sums, she was very sparing, which we partly conceive was a virtue rather drawn out by necessity, than her nature, for she had many layings out, and to her last period. And I am of opinion with Sir Walter Raleigh, that those many brave men of our times, and of the Militiae, tasted little more of her bounty, then in her grace, and good word with their due entertainment, for she ever paid the soldiers well, which was the honour of her times, and more than her great adversary of Spain could perform, so that when we come to the consideration of her frugality, the observation will be little more, then that her bounty, and it were so woven together, that the one was suited by an honourable way of spending, the other limited by a necessitated way of sparing.  
The Irish action we may call a malady, and a Consumption of her times: for it accompanied her to her end, and it was of so profuse, and vast an expense, that it drew near a distemperature of State, and of passion in herself, for toward her last, she grew somewhat hard to please, her arms being accustomed to prosperity, and the Irish persecution, not answering her expectation, and wont success for a good while, it was an unthrifty, and inauspitious war which did much disturb, and mislead her judgement; and the more for that it was a precedent, which was taken out of her own Pattern; for as the Queen (by way of diversion) had at the coming to the crown, supported the revolted States of Holland, so did the King of Spain turn the trick on herself towards her going out, by cherishing the Irish rebellion, where it falls into consideration, what the State of the kingdom, and the crown revenues were then able to embrace, and endure; if we look into the establishment of those times, with the list of the Irish Army, considering the defeatments of blackwater, withal precedent expenses, as it stood from my Lord of Essex, undertaking to the surrender of Kingsale under the general Mountioy; and somewhat after, we shall find the horse and foot troops, were for three or four years together much about 20000, Which besides, the naval charge which was a dependent of the same war; in that the Queen was then forced to keep in continual pay, a strong Fleet at Sea, to attend the Spanish Coasts, and Ports, both to alarum the Spaniard, and to interpret his Forces designed for the Irish assistance; so that the charge of that war alone, did cost the Queen 300000. p●●annum at least, which was not the moiety of her other disbursements, an expense which (Without the public aid) the State, and the royal reccipts, could not have much longer endured, which out of her own frequent Letters and complaints to the Deputy Mountioy for cashiering part of that List, as soon as he could, may be collected, for the Queen was then driven into a strait.  
We are naturally prone to applaud the times behind us, and to vilify the present, for the current of her fame carries it to this day, how Royal●y and victoriously she lived and died, without the grievance and grudge of the people, yet that truth may appear without retraction from the honour of so great a Princess, It is manifest she left more debts unpayed, taken upon the credit of her Privy-Seals, than her Progenitors did, or could have taken up that way in a hundred years before her, which was an enforced piece of State, to lay the burden on that horse, that was best able to bear it, at the dead lift, when neither her receipts could yield her relief at the pinch, nor the urgency of her affairs endure the delays of Parliamentary assistance, and for such aids it is likewise apparent, that she received more, and with the love of the people, than any two of her predecessors, that took most, which was a Fortune strained out of the Subject, through the plause ability of her Comportment, and as I would say without offence the prodigal distribution of her Graces to all sorts of Subjects, for I believe no Prince living that was so tender of honour, and so exactly stood for the preservation of sovereignty, that was so great a Courtier of her people, yea of the Commons, and that stooped and descended lower in presenting her person to the public view, as she passed in her progresses and perambulations, and in the ejaculation of her prayers on her people; and truly though much may be given in praise of her magnanimity, and there with comply with her Parliaments, and for all that come off at last with honour and profit, yet must we ascribe some part of the commendation to the wisdoms of the times, and the choice of Parliament men, for I find not that they were at any time given to any violent or pertinacious dispute, elections being made of grave and discreet persons, not factious and ambitious of fame, such as came not to the house with a malevolent spirit of contention, but with a preparation to consult on the public good, rather to comply, then contest with her Majesty, neither do I find that the house was at any time weakened and pestered with the admission of too many young heads, as it hath been of later times, which remembers me of Recorder Martin's speech, about the tenth of our late sovereign Lord King James, when there were accounts taken of forty Gentlemen, not above twenty, and some not exceeding sixteen, which moved him to say, that it was the ancient custom for old men to make Laws for young ones, but that then he saw, the case altered, and that there were children elected unto the great council of the kingdom, which came to invade and invert nature, and to enact Laws to govern their Fathers: sure we are, the house always took the common cause into their consideration, and they saw the Queen had just occasion, and need enough to use their assistance, neither do I remember that the house did ever Capitulate or prefer their private to the public, &c. The Queen's necessities, but waited their times, and in the first place gave their supply, and according to the exigency of her affairs, yet failed not at last to obtain what they desired, so that the Queen and her Parliaments had ever the good Fortune to depart in love, and on reciprocal terms, which are considerations which have not been so exactly observed in our last assemblies, as they might, and I would to God they had been for considering the great debt lest on the King, and in what encumbrances the house itself had then drawn him, his Majesty was not well used, though I lay not the blame on the whole suffrage of the house, where he had many good friends, for I dare avouch, had the house been freed of half a dozen of popular and discontented persons, such (as with the fellow that burned the Temple at Ephesus) would be talked of, though but for doing of mischief, I am confident the King had obtained, that which in reason, and at his first accession, he ought to have received freely, and without any condition, But pardon the digression, which is here remembered, not in the way of aggravation, but in true zeal to the public good, and presented in caveat to future times, for I am not ignorant how the spirit of the kingdom now moves to make his Majesty amends on any occasion, and how desirous the Subject is to expiate that offence at any rate, may it please his Majesty graciously to make trial of his Subjects affection, and at what price they now value his goodness and magnanimity. But to our purpose, the Queen was not to learn, that as the strength of her kingdom consisted in the multitude of her Subjects, for the security of her person rested in the love and fidelity of her people, which she politicly affected (as it hath been thought) somewhat beneath the height of her spirit, and natural magnanimity. Moreover it will be a true note of her providence, that she would always listen to her profit, for she would not refuse the informations of mean persons, with purposed improvement, and had learned the philosophy of Hoc ag●re, to look into her own work, of the which there is a notable example of one Carwarden an under Officer of the custom house, who observing his time presented her with a paper, showing how she was abused in the under renting of her customs, and therewithal humbly desired her Majesty to conceal him, for that it did concern two or three of her great councillors, whom customer Smith had bribed with 200. a man, so to lose the Queen 2000 per annum, which being made known to the Lords, they gave strict order, that Carwarden should not have access to the back stairs, till at last her Majesty smelling the craft, and missing Carwarden, she sent for him back, and encouraged him to stand to his information, which the poor man did so handsomely, that within the space of ten years, he brought Smith to double his rent, or to leave the customs to new Farmers, so that we may take this also into observation, that there were of the Queen's council that were not in the Catalogue of Saints.  
Now as we have taken a view of some particular notions of her times, her nature, and necessities, it is not without the text, to give, a short touch on the helps and advantages of her reign, which were without parallel, for she had neither husband, brother, sister, nor children to provide for, who as they are dependants of the Crown, so do they necessarily draw maintenance from thence, and do often times exhaust and draw deep especially when there is an ample fraternity of the blood royal, and of the Princes of the blood, as it was in the time of Edward the third, and Henry the fourth, for then when the Crown cannot, the public aught to give them honourable allowance, for they are the honour and hopes of the kingdom, and the public which enjoys them, hath alike interest in them, with the Father that begot them; and our Common-Law, which is the heritance of the Kingdom, did ever of old provide aids for the primogenitures, and the eldest daughter; so that the multiplicity of Courts, and the great charge which necessarily follow a King, and Queen, a Prince, and the royal issue, was a thing which was not in rerum natura, during the space of forty years, and which by time was worn out of memory, and without the cons●deration of the present times, Insomuch, that the aids given to the late and right noble Prince Henry, and to his sister the Lady Elizabeth, were at first generally received for impositions of a new coinage. Yea the late impositions for Knightwood (though an ancient Law) fell also into the imputation of a tax of novelty, for that it lay long covered in the embers of division, between the Houses of York and Lancaster, and forgotten, or connived at by the succeeding Princes, so that the strangeness of the observation, and the difference of those latter reigns is; that the Queen took up beyond the power of the Law, which fell not into the murmur of the people, and her successors nothing but by warrant of the Law, which nevertheless was conceived (through disuse) to be injurious to the liberty of the kingdom.  
Now before I come to any further mention of her favourites (for hitherto I have delivered, but some obvious passages, thereby to prepare and smooth a way for the rest that follows) it is requisite that I touch on the relics of the other reign, I mean the body of her sister's council of State, which she retained entire; neither removing, nor discontenting any, although she knew them averse to her Religion (and in her sister's time perverse towards her person) and private to her troubles and imprisonment: A prudence which was incomparable with her sister's nature, for she both dissipated and persecuted the major part of her brother's council, but this will be of certainty, that how compliable soever, and obsequious she found them, yet for a good space she made little use of their counsels, more than in the ordinary course of the board: for she held a dormant Table in her own Princely breast, yet she kept them together, and their places without any sudden change, so that we may say of them, that they were of the Court, not of the council, for whilst she amazed them with a kind of premissive disputation concerning the points controverted by both Churches, she did set down her own reservations, without their privity, and made all her progressions gradations. But so that the tenants of her secrecy with intent of her establishment, were pitched before it was known where the Court would sit down; neither do I find that any of her sister's council of state were either repugnant to her religion, or opposed her doings (Engl●field, Master of the horse excepted) who withdrew himself from the board, and shortly after from out her Dominions, so pliable and obedient they were to change with the times, and their Princes, and of this there will fall in here a relation both of recreation, and of known truth▪ Pawle● marquess of Wincheste●, and Lord Treasurer, having served then four Princes in as various and changeable season, that I may well say, time, nor any age hath yielded the like precedent.  
This man being noted to grow high in her favour (as his place, and experience required) was questioned by an intimate friend of his, how he stood up for thirty years together amidst the changes, and reigns of so many Chancellors and great personages, why quoth the marquess, Ortus sunt ex salice, non ex que●cu, I was made of the pliable willow, not of the stubborn oak, and truly the old man hath taught them all, especially William Earl of Pembroke, for they two were always of the King's religion, and over zealous professors. Of this it is said, that being both younger brothers (yet of noble Houses) they spent what was left them, and come on trust to the Court, whereupon the bare stock of their Wits, they began to traffic for themselves, and prospered so well, that they got, spent, and left more than any Subjects from the Norman Conquest, to their own times, whereunto it hath been prettily replied, that they lived in a time of dissolution. To conclude them, of any of the former reign, it is said, that these two lived and died (chiefly) in her favour. The latter upon his son's marriage, which the Lady K●th rind Grey, w●s like utterly to have lost himself, but at the instant of the consummation, apprehending the insafety, and danger of an intermarriage with the blood royal, he fell at the Queen's feet, where he both acknowledged his presumption with tears, and projected the cause, and the divorce together, and so quick he was at his work (for it stood him upon) that upon repudiation of the Lady, he clapped up a marriage for his son the Lord Herbert with M●r▪ Sidney Daughrer to Sir Henry Sidney, than Lord Deputy of Ireland, the blow falling on Edward late Earl of Hereford▪ who (to his cost) took up the divorced Lady, of whom the Lord Beauchampe was borne, and William Earl of Hereford is descended. I come how to present those of her own election, which she either admitted to her secrets of State, or took into her grace and favour, of whom in their order, I crave leave to give unto posterity a cautious description, with a short character, or draught of the persons themselves: for without offence to others, I would be true to myself, their memories and merits distinguishing them of the militiae, from the 〈◊〉 and of these she had as many, and those as able Ministers, as any of her Progenitors.  

Leicester.  
IT will be out of doubt, that my Lord of Leicester was one of the first whom she made Master of the Horse, he was the youngest son (then living) of the Duke Northumberland beheaded 〈…〉, and his Father was that Du●y, which our Histories couple with 〈◊〉; and both so much infamed for the Caterpillars of the commonwealth, during the reign of Henry the seventh: who being a noble extract, was executed the first year of Henry the eighth, but not thereby so extinct, but that he left a plentiful estate, and such a son, who (as the vulgar speaks it) could live without the teat; for out of the Ashes of his father's infamy, he rose to be a Duke, and as high, as subjection could permit, or sovereignty endure; and though he could not find out any appellation to assume the Crown in his own person, yet he projected, and very nearly effected it for his son Gu●lbert, by intermarriage with the Lady 〈◊〉 Grey, and so by that way to bring it about into his loins: Observations, which though they lie behind us, and seem impertinent to the Text, yet are they not much extravagant, for they must lead, and show us how the after passages were brought about with the dependences, and on the hinges of a collateral workmanship: and truly, it may amaze a well settled judgement to look back into those times, and to consider how this Duke could attain to such a pitch of greatness, his Father dying in ignominy, and at the Gallows, his estate confiscate, and that for peeling and polling, by the clamour, and cruci●●ge of the people, but when we better think upon it, we find that he was given up, but as a Sacrifice to please the people, not for any offence committed against the person of the King, so that upon the matter he was a Martyr of the Prerogative, and the King in honour could do no less than give back to his Son the privilege of his blood, with the acquirings of his father's profession, for he was a Lawyer, and of the King's council, at Law before he came to be ex 〈…〉, where besides the lickings of his own fingers, he got the King a mass of riches, and that not with the hazard, but the loss of his fame and life, for the King's father's sake. Certain it is, that his son was left rich in purse and brain, which are good foundations, and full to ambition, and it may be supposed, he was on all occasions well heard of the King, as a person of mark and compassion in his eye, but I find not that he did put up for advancement, during Henry the eights time, although a vast aspirer, and provident stourier. It seems he thought the King's reign was much given to the falling sickness, but espying his time fitting, and the sovereignty in the hands of a pupil Prince, he thought he might as well, then put up for it, as the best, for having then possession of blood, and a purse, with a head-piece of a vast extent, he soon got honour, and no sooner there, but he began to side it with the best, even with the Protector; and in conclusion got his, and his brother's heads▪ still aspiring, till he expired, in the loss of his own, so that posterity may by reading the Father and the Grandfather, make judgement of the son; for we shall find that this Robert (whose original we have now traced the better to present him) was inheritor of the genius, and craft of his Father; and Ambrose, of the estate, of whom hereafter we shall make some short mention.  
We take him now as he was admitted into the Court, and the Queen's favour, where he was not to seek to play his part well, and dexteriously. But his play was chiefly at the forgame, not that he was a learner at the latter, but he loved not the after wit, for they report (and I think not untruly) that he was seldom behind hand with his Gamesters, and that they always went away with the loss.  
He was a very godly person, and singular well featured, and all his youth well favoured, and of a sweet aspect, but high foreheaded, which as I should take it, was of no discommendation: but towards his latter end (which with old men, was but a middle age) he grew high coloured and red faced; so that the Queen in this, had much of her Father, for (excepting some of her kindred, and some few that had handsome wits in crooked bodies, she always took personage in the way of her election, for the people hath it to this day in proverb, King Harry loved a man: Being thus in her grace, she called to mind, the sufferings of his Ancestors, both in her Fathers and sisters reigns, and restored his, and his brother's blood, creating Ambr●s the elder, Earl of Warwick, and himself, Earl of Leicester, &c. And he was ex rimiti●s, or of her first choice, for he rested not there, but long enjoyed her favour; and therewith, much what he listed, till time and emulation (the companions of great ones) had resolved on his period, and to cover him at his setting in a cloud at Cornebury▪ not by so violent a death, and by the fatal sentence of judicature, as that of his Fathers, and Grandfathers was, but as it is suggested by that poison which he had prepared for others, wherein they report him a rare Artist, I am not bound to give credit to all vulgar relations, or to the libels of the times, which are commonly forced, and falsified suitable to the moods, and humours of men, in passion, and discontent, but that which leads me to think him no good man, is (amongst others of known truth) that of my Lord of Essex death in Ireland, and the marriage of his Lady yet living, which I forbear to press, in regard that he is long since dead, and others living, whom it may concern.  
To take him in the observations of his Letters, and Writings (which should best set him off) for such as fell into my hands, I never yet saw a style or phrase, more seeming religious, and fuller of the strains of devotion, and were they not sincere, I doubt much of his well being, and I may fear he was too well seen in the aphorisms and principles of Nicholas the Florentine, and in the reaches of Caesar Borgia; and hitherto I have only touched him in his Courtship. I conclude him in his Lance, he was sent governor by the Queen to the united States of Holland, where we read not of his wonders, for they say that he had more of Mercury than Mars, and that his device might have been, without prejudice to the great Caesar, Veni, vidi, redii.   

Sussex.  
HIs corrival before mentioned, was Thomas Radcliff Earl: of Sussex, who, (in his constellation was his direct opposite) for he was indeed one of the Queen's Martialists, and did very good service in Ireland, at her first accession, till she recalled him to the Court, where she made him Lord chamberlain, but he played not his game with that cunning, and dexterity, as Leiceste did, who was much the more faceate Courtier, though Sussex was thought much the honester man, and far the better soldier, but he lay too open on his guard.  
He was a goodly Gentleman, and of a brave Noble nature, true and constant to his friends and servants, he was also of a very Noble and ancient Lyneage, honoured through many descents by the Title of Viscounts, Fitzwalters': Moreover there was such an Antipathy in his nature to that of Leicesters that being together in Court, and both in high employments they grew to a direct frowardness, and were in continual opposition, the on setting the watch, the other the sentinel, each on the other actions and motions, for my Lord of Sussex was of a great spirit, which backed with the Queen's special favour, and supported by a great and ancient inheritance, could not brook the others' Empire: Insomuch as the Queen upon sundry occasions had somewhat to do to appease, and attain them, until death parted the competition, and let the place of Leiceste●, who was not long alone without his rival in grace and command, and to conclude this favourite, it is confidently affirmed, that lying in his last sickness, he gave this caveat to his friends, I am now passing into another world, and I must now leave you to your Fortunes, and to the Queen's grace, and goodness: but beware of the Gipsy, meaning L●ice●ter, for he will be to hard for you all, you know not the best so well as I do.   

Lord Burleigh.  
I Now come to the next, which was Secretary William Cecil, for on the death of the old marquess of Winchester▪ he came up in his room, a person of a most subtle and active spirit, who though he stood not altogether by the way of constellation, and making up of a part and faction, for he was wholly intentive to the service of his Mistress, and his dexterity, experience, and merit, challenged a room in the Queen's favour, which eclipsed the others over seeming greatness, and made it appear that there were others that steered, and stood at the Helm besides himself, and more stars in the Firmament of her grace then, 〈◊〉 Maior, or the Bear with the ragged staff.  
He was borne (as they say in Lincola● shire, but as some upon knowledge aver, of a younger Brother of the cecils of Hartford-shire, a family (of my own knowledge) though now private, yet of no mean antiquity, who being exposed, and sent to the City, as poor Gentleman use to do their younger Sonn●s, he came to be a rich man on Lo●●o-bridge, and pu●chasing in Lincol●-shire, where this man was born, he was sent to Cambridge, then to the inns of Court, and so he came to serve the Duke of Ommerse● in the time of his Protectership, as Secretary, and having a pregnancy to great inclinations, he came by degrees to a higher conversation with the chiefest affairs of State, and counsels; but on the fall of the Duke he stood some years in umbrage, and without employment, till the State found and needed his abilities, and though we find not that he was taken into any place, during Mary's reign, unless (as some have said) towards the last, yet the council on several occasions made use of him, and at the Queen's entrance he was admitted Secretary of State, afterwards he was made Master of the Court of Wards, than Lord Treasurer, a person of most requisite abilities; and indeed the Queen began then to need, and to seek out for men of both Garbs, and so I conclude, and rank this great Instrument of State, amongst the Togati, for he had not to do with the sword, more than as the great paymaster, and Contriver of the war, which shortly followed, wherein he accomplished much through his theorical knowledge at home, and his intelligence abroad, by unlocking the counsels of the Queen's enemies.  
We must now take (and that of truth) into observation, that until the tenth of her reign, her times were calm and serene, though sometimes a little overcast, as the most glorious sun risings, are subject to shadowings and droppings in, for the clouds of Spain, and vapours of the holy League, began then to disperse and threaten her serenity; Moreover, she was then to provide against some intestine storms, which began to gather in the very heart of her Kingdom, all which had a relation, and correspondency, each with the other to dethrone her, and to disturb the public tranquillity, and therewithal (as a principal work) the established Religion, for the name of Recusant began then, and first to be known to the World, and till then the Catholics were no more than Church Papists, but were commanded by the Pope's express letters, to appear, and forbear Church going, as they tender their holy Father, and the holy Catholic Church their Mother: so that it seems the Pope had then his aims to take a true muster of his children, but the Queen had the greater advantage, for she likewise took tale of her apostate Subjects, their strength, and how many they were that had given up their names unto Baal, who then by the hands of some of his Prosilits fixed his Bulls on the Gates of Paul's, which discharged her Subjects of all fidelity, and laid siege to the received faith, and so under the veil of the next Successor, to replant the Catholic Religion, so that the Queen had then a new task and work in hand, that might well awake her best providence, and required a muster of men of arms, as well as Courtships, and counsels, for the times began then to be quick and active, fitter for stronger motions, than those of the Carpet, and measure, and it will be a true note of her magnanimity, that she loved a soldier, and had a propension in her nature to regard, and always to grace them, which the Courtiers taking into observation, took it as an invitation to win honour, together with their majesty's favour, by exposing themselves to the wars, especially when the Queens, and the affairs of the Kingdom stood in some necessity of a soldier, for we have many instances of the Sallies of the Nobility, and Gentry, yea and out of the Court, and her Privy favourites (that had any touch or tincture of Mars in their inclinations, and to steal away without licence, and the Queen's privity, which had like to have cost some of them dear, so predominant were their thoughts and hopes of honour growing in them, as we may truly observe in the expositions of Sir Philip Sidney, my Lord of Essex, Mountjoy, and divers others, whose absence, and the manner of their cruptions, was very distasteful to her: whereof I can here add a true, and no impertinent Story, and that of the last Mountjoy, who having twice or thrice, stolen away into Britain (Where under Sir John Norris he had then a company) without the Queen's leave and privity, she sent a Messenger unto him, with a strict charge to the general to see him sent home, when he came into the Queen's presence, she fell into a kind of reviling, demanding how he durst go over without her leave, serve me so quoth she once more, and I will lay you fast enough for running: you will never leave until you are knocked on the head, as that inconsiderate fellow Sidney was, you shall go when I send you, in the mean time see that you lodge in the Court (Which was then at White-Hall) where you may follow your Book, read and discourse of the wars.  
But to our purpose it fell out happily to those, and (as I may say) to those times, that the Queen during the calm of her reign was not idle, not rocked a sleep with security, for she had been very provident in the Reparation, and Augmentation of her Shipping, and Ammunition; and I know not, whether by a foresight of policy, or an instinct, it came about, or whether it was an act of her compassion. But it is most certain, that she sent Levies, and no small troops to the assistance of the revolted States of Holland, before she had received any affront from the King of Spain, that might deserve, or tend to a breach in hostility, which the Papists to this day maintain, was the provocation, and cause of the after wars, but omitting what might be said to this point, those netherlands wars were the Queen's Seminaries, and the Nurseries of very many brave soldiers, and so were likewise the civil wars of France (Whither she sent five several Armies) the Fenceschooles that enured the youth and Gallantry of the kingdom, and it was a Militia wherein they were daily in acquaintance, with the discipline of the Spaniard●, who were then turned the Queen's inveterate enemies.  
And this have I taken into observation, her Di●s Halci●nii, those years of hers which were more serene and quiet then those that followed, which though they were not less propitious, as being touched more with the point of honour and victory, yet were they troubled, and ever clouded over, both with domestics, and foreign macchinations, and it is already quoted, they were such as awakened her spirits, and made her cast about how to defend, rather by offending, and by the way of diversion to prevent all invasions, then to expect them, which was a piece of policy of the times, and with this I have noted the causes or principia of the wars following, and likewise pointed to the seed-plots, from whence she took up those brave men, and plants of honour, which acted on the theatre of Mars, and on whom she dispersed the rays of her grace, which were persons in their kinds of rare virtues, and such as might (out of height of merit) pretend interest to her favour, of which rank, the number will equal, if not exceed that of the gownsmen, in recount of whom I proceed with Sir Philip Sidney.   

Sir Philip Sidney.  
HE was son to Sir Henry Sidney, Lord Deputy of Ireland, and President of Wales, a person of great parts, and in no mean grace with the Queen, his Mother was Sister to my Lord of Leicester, from whence we may conjecture, how the Father stood up in the place of honour, and employment, so that his descent was apparently noble on both sides; for his education, it was such as travel, and the university could afford, or his Tutors infuse, for after an incredible proficiency in all the species of learning, he left the Academiall life, for that of the Court; whither he came by his uncle's invitation, famed aforehand by a noble report of his accomplishments, which together with the state of his person, framed by a natural propension to arms, he soon attracted the good opinion of all men, and was so highly prized in the good opinion of the Queen, that she thought the Court deficient without him, and whereas (through the fame of his deserts) he was in the election, for the kingdom of Pole, she refused to further his advancement, not out of emulation, but out of fear to lose the jewel of her times; he married the Daughter and sole heir of Sir Francis Walsingham, than Secretary of State, a Lady destinated to the Bed of honour, who (after his deplorable death at Zutphen in the Netherlands, where he was governor of Vl●ishing, and at the time of his uncle's being there) was married to my Lord of Essex, and since his death, to my Lord of Saint Albon, all persons of the sword, and otherwise of great honour and virtue.  
They have a very quaint, and factious figment of him, that Mar● and Mercury fell at variance, whose servant he should be, and there is an Epigrammist that saith, that Art and Nature had spent their excellencies in his fashioning, and fearing they should not end what they begun, they bestowed him on Fortune, and nature stood musing, and amazed to behold her own work. But these are the petulancies of Poets.  
Certain it is, he was a noble and matchless Gentleman, and it may be justly said without hiperboles of fiction, as it was of Coto 〈◊〉, that he seemed to be borne, to that only which he went about Versalitis ingenii, as Plutarch hath it, but to speak more of him, were to make him less.   

Sir Francis Walsingham.  
SIR Francis Walsingham, (as we have said) had the honour to be Sir Philip Sydney's Father in Law, he was a Gentleman (at first) of a good house: but of a better education, and from the university traveled for the rest of his learning, he was doubtless the best Ling●ist of the times, but knew best how to use his own tongue, whereby he came to be employed in the chiefest affairs of State; he was sent Ambassador into France, and stayed there leaguer long, in the heat of the civil wars, and at the same time, that Monsieur was here a Suitor to the Queen, and if I be not mistaken, he played the very same part there, as since Gundam●re did here; at his return he was taken principal Secretary, and was one of the great Engines of State, and of the times, high in the Queen's favour, and a watchful servant over the safety of his Mistress.  
They note him to have had certain curiosities, and secret ways of intelligence above the rest, but I must confess I am to seek; Wherefore he suffered Parry to play so long on the hook, before he hoist him up; and I have been a little curious in the search thereof, though I have not to do with the Arcan● Imperii.  
For to know is sometimes a burden, and I remember, that it was Ovid's c●imen aut error, that he saw too much. But I hope these are colaterals of no danger; but that Parry having an intent to kill the Queen, made the way of his access, by betraying of others, and impeaching of the Priests of his own correspondency, and thereby had access and conference with the Queen; and also oftentimes familiar, and private conference with Walsingham, will not be the quere of the Mystery, for the Secretary might have had end of discovery on a further maturity of the Treason, but that after the Queen knew Parryes' intent, why she should then admit him to private Discourse, and Walsingham to suffer it, considering the condition of all assaylngs, and to permit him to go, where, and whether he listed, and only on the security of a dark sentinel set over him, was a piece of reach and hazard, beyond my apprehension.  
I must again profess, that having read many of his Letters (for they are commonly sent to my Lord of Leicester, and Burleigh out of France, containing many fine passages, and secrets, yet if I might have been beholding to his ciphers (whereof they are full) they would have told pretty tales of the times, but I must now close up, and rank him amongst the Togati, yet chief of those that laid the foundation of the French and Dutch wars, which was another piece of his fineness, and of the times, with one observation more; that he was one of the great allays of the Austerian embracements, for both himself and Stafford that preceded him, might well have been compared to the fiend in the Gospel, that sowed his tares in the night, so did they their feeds of division in the dark, and it is a likely report that they father on him, at his return, that the Queen said unto him with some sensibility of the S●anish designs, on France, Madam I beseech you be content not to fear, the Spaniard hath a great appetite, and an excellent digestion, but I have fitted him with a Bone for this twenty years, that your Majesty shall have no cause to doubt him, provided that if the fire chance to slack, which I have kindled, you will be ruled be me, and now, and then cast in some English fuel, which will revive the flame.   

Willoughby.  
MY Lord Willoughby, was one of the Queen's first sword men, he was of the ancient extract of the Bart●●s, but more ennobled by his Mother, who was Duchess of Suffolk.  
He was a great Master of the Art Military, and was sent general into France, and commanded the second of five Armies, that the Queen sent thither in aid of the French: I have heard it spoken that had he not slighted the Court, but applied himself to the Queen, he might have enjoyed a plentiful portion of her grace, and it was his saying (and it did him no good) that he was none of the R●plitia, intimating, that he could not creep on the ground, and that the Court was not his Element, for indeed as he was a great soldier, so was he of a suitable magnanimity, and could not brook the obsequiousness, and a●●iduity of the Court, and as he then was somewhat descending from youth, happily he had, an animam re●crendi and to make a safe retreat.   

Sir Nicholas Bacon.  
I Come to another of the Togati, Sir Nicholas Bacon, an arch piece of Wit and wisdom, he was a Gentleman, and a man of Law, and of great knowledge therein, whereby, together with his other parts of learning and dexterity, he was promoted to be Keeper of the great Seal, and being of Kin to the Treasurer Burleigh, had also the help of his hand to bring him into the Queen's favour, for he was abundantly factious, which took much with the Queen, when it was suited with the season, as he was well able to judge of his times; he had a very quaint saying, and he used it often to good purpose, that he loved the jest well, but not the loss of his friend: he would say, and that though he knew it, Vansquisque si●● fortune ●ober, was a true and good principle, yet the most in number were those that marred themselves, but I will never forgive that man, that loseth himself, to be rid of his jest.  
He was Father to that refined wit, which since hath acted a disastrous part, on the public stage, and of late, sat in his father's room, as Lord Chancellor; those that lived in his age, and from whence I have taken this little model of him, gives him a lively Character, and they decipher him, for another Solo●, and the Sinon of those times, such a one as Aedipus was in dissolving of riddles; doubtless, he was as able an instrument, and it was his commendation, that hishead was the Mawle (for it was a great one,) and therein he kept the Wedge, that entered the knotty pieces, that came to the Table: and now I must again fall back, to smooth, and plain away to the rest that is behind, but not from the purpose.  
There were about these times, two Rivals in the Queen's favour, old Sir Francis Knowles, Controuller of the House, and Sir Henry Norris, whom she called up at a Parliament to sit with the Peers in the higher House, as Lord Norris of R●cott, who had married the Daughter and Heir of the old Lord Williams of Tain, a Noble person, and to whom in the Queen's adversity, she had been committed to safe custody, and from him had received, more than ordinary observances. Now such was the goodness of the Queen's nature, that she neither forgot the good turns received from the Lord Williams, neither was she unmindful of this Lord Norris, whose Father, in her father's time, and in the business of her mother died in a noble cause, and in the jnstification of her innocency.   

Lord Norris.  
MY Lord Norris had by this Lady an ample issue, which the Queen highly respected, for he had six sons, and all martial brave men, the first was William his eldest, and Father to the late Earl of Bark-shire, Sir John, Vulgarly called, general Norris, Sir Edward, Sir Thomas, Sir Henry, and Maximilian, men of an haughty courage, and of great experience in the conduct of military affairs, and to speak in the Character of their merit, they were such persons of such renown, and worth, as future times must out of duty, owe them the debt of an honourable memory.   

Knowles.  
SIR Francis Knowles, was somewhat of the Queen's affinity, and had likewise no incompetent issue, for he had also William his Eldest, and since Earl of Banbury, Sir Thomas, Sir Robert, and Sir Francis, if I be not a little mistaken in their names, and Marshalling; and there was also the Lady lettuce, a Sister of these, who was first Countess of Essex, and after of Leicester, and these were also brave men in their times, and places; but they were of the Court, and Carpet, not led by the genius of the Camp.  
Between these two Families, there was (as it falleth out amongst great Ones, and Competitors for favour) no great correspondency, and there were some Seeds, either of emulation, or distrust, cast between them, which had they not been disjoined in the residence of of their persons, (as it was the Fortune of their employments) the one side attending the Court, the other the pavilion,  
Surely, they would have broken out into some kind of hostility▪ or at least they would have wrestled one in the other, like Trees, encircled with joy, for there was a time when (both these Fraternities being met at Court:) there passed a challenge between them at certain exercises (the Queen and the old men being Spectators) which ended in a flat quarrel amongst them all) and I am persuaded (though I ought not to judge) that there were some relics of this feud, that were long after the causes of the one Families (almost utter) extirpation, and of the others improsperity: for it was a known truth, that so long as my Lord of Leicester lived, who was the main Pillar of the one side, as having married the Sister, none of the other side took any deep rooting in the Court: though otherwise they made their ways to honour by their swords, and that which is of more note (considering my Lord of Leicesters' use of men of arms, being shortly after sent governor to the revolted States, and no soldier himself) is that, he made no more account of Sir John Norris, a soldier then deservedly famoused, and trained from a Page, under the discipline of the great Captain of Christendom, the ●dmirall Castillion, and of command in the French, and Dutch War●es, almost twenty years. It is of further observation, that my Lord of Essex (after Leicesters' decease) though initated to arms, and honoured by the general, in the Portug●ll expedition: whether out of instigation (as it hath been thought) or out of ambition and jealousy, to be eclipsed, and over shadowed by the fame and splendour of this great Commander, loved him not in sincerity. Moreover, certain it is, he not only crushed, and (upon all occasions) quelled the growth of this brave man, and his famous Brethren, but therewith drew on his own fatal end, by undertaking the Irish Action; in a time when he left the Court, empty of friends, and full fraught with his professed enemies: but I forbear to extend myself in any further relation upon this Subject, as having left some notes of truth, in these two noble Families, which I would present, and therewith touched somewhat, which I would not, if the equity of the Narration would have admitted an inte●mission.   

Sir John Perrot.  
SIR John Perrot was a goodly Gentleman, and of the sword, and as he was of a very ancient descent, as an heir to many abstracts of gentry, especially from Guy de Bryan of Lawhern, so was he of a vast estate, and came not to the Court for want, and to these adjuncts, he had the endowments of courage, and height of spirit, had it lighted on the allay of temper, and discretion the defect, whereof, with a native freedom, and boldness of speech, drew him on to a clouded setting, and laid him open to the spleen and advantage of his enemies, amongst whom Sir Christopher Hatton was professed. He was yet a wise man, and a brave Courtier, but rough, and participating more of active then sedentary motions, as being in his constellation destinated for arms. There is a quere of some denotations, how he came to receive his foil, and that in the Catastrophe, for he was strengthened with honourable allyances and the privy friendships of the Court.  
My Lord of Leicester and Burleigh, (both his contemporaries and familiars. But that there might be (as the Adage hath it) falsity in friendship, and we may rest satisfied, that there is no dispute against fate.  
They quote him, for a person that loved too stand to much alone, and on his own legs, of too often recesses, and discontinuance from the Queen's presence, a fault which is incompatible with the ways of Court and favour.  
He was sent Lord Deputy into Ireland, (as it was thought) for a kind of haughtiness of spirit, and repugnancy in counsels: or as others have thought, the fittest person, then to bridle the insolency of the Irish, and probable it is, that both these (considering the sway) that he would have at the board, and head in the Queens) concurred, and did a little conspire his remove, and his ruin. But into Ireland he went, where he did the Queen very great and many services, if the surplusage of the measure did not abate the value of the merit, as after times found that to be no Paradox, for to save the Queen's purse (which both herself) and my Lord Treasurer Burleigh ever took for good services) he imposed on the Irish the charge of bearing their own arms, which both gave them the possession, and taught them the use of weapons, which proved in the end a most fatal work, both in the profusion of blood and treasure.  
But at his return, and on some account sent home before, touching the state of the kingdom, the assiduous testimonies of her grace towards him, till by his retreat to his Castle at Ca●y, where he was then building, and out of desire to be in command at home (as he had been abroad) together with the hatred and practice of Hatton, then in high favour, whom not long before, he had too bitterly tanted for his dancing, he was accused of high Treason, and for high words, and a forged letter condemned, though the Queen, on the news of his condemnation, swore by her wonted oath, that they were all knaves; and they deliver with assurance, that on his return to the Tower, after his trial, he said in oaths, and in fury, to the Lieutevant Sir Owen Hop●on, what will the Queen suffer her Brother to be offered up, as a Sacrifice to the envy of my frisking adversaries; which being made known to the Queen, and the warrant for his execution tendered, and somewhat enforced, she refused to sign it, and swore he should not die, for he was an honest, and a faithful man: and surely, though not altogether to set up our rest, and faith upon tradition, and upon old reports, as that Sir Thomas Perrot his Father was a Gentleman of the privy Chamber, to Henry the eighth, and in the Court married to a Lady of great honour, of the King's familiarity, which are presumptions of some implication: But if we go a little further, and compare his Picture, his qualities, gesture, and voice, with that of the Kings, which memory retains, yet amongst us, they will plead strongly, that he was a subreptious child of the blood royal.  
Certain it is, that he lived not long in the Tower, and that after his decease, Sir Thomas Perrot his son (then of no mean esteem with the Queen) having before married my Lord of Essex Sister, since Countess of Northumberland, had restitution of all his Lands, though after his decease also (which immediately followed) the Crown resumed his estate, and took advantage of the former attainder. And to say the truth, the priest's forged letter, was at his arraignment, thought but as a fiction of envy, and was soon after exploded by the Priests own confession, but that which most exasperated the Queen, and gave advantage to his enemies, was (as Sir Walter Raleigh takes into his observation) words of disdain, for the Queen by sharp and reprehensive Letters, had nettled him, and shortly after sending others of approbation, commending his service, and intimating an invasion from Spain, which he no sooner perused, but he said publicly in the great Chamber at Dublin: Lo now she is ready to piss herself for fear of the Spaniard; I am again one of her white Boys.  
Words which are subject to a various construction, and tended to some disreputation of his sovereign, and such as may serve for instruction to persons in place of honour, and command to beware of the violences of nature, but especially of the exorbitances of the tongue: and so I conclude him with this double observation, the one of the innocency of his intentions (exempt and clear from the guilt of Treason) and disloyalty, the other of the greatness of his heart, for at his arraignment he was so little dejected, by what might be alleged and proved against him, that he rather grew troubled with choler, and in a kind of exaspiration despised his jury, though of the order of Knighthood, and of the special Gentry, claiming the privilege of trial, by the Peers, and Barronage of the Realm, so prevalent was that of his native genius, and the haughtiness of his spirit, which accompanied him to his last, and till (any diminution of courage) it broke in pieces, the cords of his magnanimity, for he died suddenly in the Tower, and when it was thought the Queen did intend his enlargement, with the restitution of his possessions, which were then very great, and comparable to most of the Nobility.   

Hattor.  
SIR Chrystopher Hatton came into the Court, as his opposite, Sir John Perrot was wont to say, by the Galliard, for he came thither as a private Gentleman of the inns of Court in a Mask, and for his activity, and person, which was tall, and proportionable, taken into her favour, he was first made vice Chamberlain, and shortly afterward advanced to the place of Lord Chancellor; a Gentleman that besides the graces of his person, and dancing, had also the adjectaments of a strong and subtle capacity, one that could soon learn the discipline and garb, both of the times and Court, the truth is, he had a large proportion of gifts, and endowments, but too much of the season of envy, and he was a mere vegetable of the Court, that sprung up at night, and sunk again at his noon.   

Lord Effingham.  
MY Lord of Effingham, though a Courtier betimes, yet I find not, that the Sunshine of her favour, broke out upon him, until she took him into the Ship, and made him high admiral of England, for his extract, it may suffice that he was the son of a Howard, and of a Duke of Norfolk.  
And for his person, as goodly a Gentleman, as the times had any, if nature had not been more intentive to complete his person, than Fortune to make him rich, for the times considered which were then active, and a long time after lucrative, he died not wealthy, yet the honester man, though it seems the Queen's purpose was to tender the occasion of his advancement, and to make him capable of more honour, which at his return from Cadize accounts, she conferred it upon him, creating him Earl of Nottingham, to the great discontent of his Colleague, my Lord of Essex, who then grew accessive in the Appetite of her favour, and the truth was so exorbitant in the limitation of the sovereign aspect, that it much alienated the Queen's grace from him, and drew others together with the admiral, to a combination, and to conspire his ruin: and though I have heard it from that party (I mean of the admiral's faction) that it lay not in his proper power to hurt my Lord of Essex, yet he had more followers, and such as were well skilled in setting of the give, but I leave this, to these of an other age.  
It is out of doubt, that the admiral was a good honest, and a brave man, and a faithful servant to his Mistress, and such a one as the Queen out of her own Princely judgement, knew to be a fit instrument for that service, for she was no ill proficient in the reading of men, as well as Books, and his sundry expeditions, as that afore mentioned, and 88 doth both express his worth, and manifest the Queen's trust, and the opinion she had of his fidelity, and conduct.  
Moreover, the Howards were of the Queen's alliance, and consanguinity by her mother, which swayed her affection; and bent it toward this great house, and it was a part of her natural propension, to grace and support ancient nobility, where it did not entrench, neither invade her interest, for on such trespasses she was quick and tender, and would not spare any whatsoever, as we may observe in the case of the Duke, and my Lord of Hereford, whom she much favoured, and countenanced, till they attempted the forbidden fruit, the fault of the last, being in the severest interpretation, but a trespass of encroachment, but in the first it was taken for a riot against the Crown, and her own sovereign power, and as I have ever thought, the cause of her aversion against the rest of the house, and the Duke's great Father in Law Fitz Allen, Earl of Arundel, a person of the first rank in her affections before these, and some other jealousies made a separation between them, this noble Lord, and the Lord Thomas Howard, since Earl of Suffolk, standing alone in her grace, the rest in umbrage.   

Sir John Packington.  
SIR John Packington was a Gentleman of no mean family, and of form and feature, no way dispiseable, for he was a brave Gentleman, and a very fine Courtier, and for the time which he stayed there, (which was not lasting) very high in her grace, but he came in, and went out, and through disassiduity drew the Curtain between himself and the light of her grace, and then death overwhelmed the remnant, and utterly deprived him of recovery, and they say of him, that had he brought less to the Court than he did, he might have carried away more than he brought, for he had a time on it, but an ill husband of opportunity.   

Lord Hunsdon.  
MY Lord of Hunsdon was of the Queen's nearest Kindred, and on the decease of Sussex, both he, and his son took the place of Lord Chamberlain, he was a fast man to his Prince, and firm in his friends and servants, and though he might speak big, and therein would be born out, yet was he not the more dreadful, but less harmful, and far from the practice of my Lord of Leicester's instructions, for he was down right, and I have heard those that both knew him well, and had interest in him, say merrily of him, that his Latin, and his dissimulation were both alike, and that his custom of swearing, and obscenity in speaking, made him seem a worse Christian than he was, and a better Knight of the Carpet, than he should be, as he lived in a ruffling time, so he loved sword and buckler men, and such as our Fathers were wont to call men of their hands, of which sort, he had many brave Gentleman that followed him, yet not taken for a popular and dangerous person, and this is one that stood amongst the Togati, of an honest stout heart, and such a one (as upon occasion) would have fought for his Prince; and his Country, for he had the charge of the Queen's person, both in the Court, and in the Camp at Tilbury.   

Raleigh.  
SIR Walter Raleigh was on that (it seems) fortune had picked out of purpose, of whom to make an example, o● to use as her Tennis-Ball, thereby to show what she could do, for she tossed him up of nothing, and to and fro to greatness, and from thence down to little more, then to that wherein she found him (a bare Gentleman) not that he was less, for he was well descended, and of good alliance, but poor in his beginnings; and for my Lord of Oxford's jest of him (the Jack, and an upstart) we all know, it savours more of emulation, and his humour, then of truth, and it is a certain note of the times, that the Queen in her choice, never took into her favour a mere new man, or a mechanic, as comes observes of Lewis the eleventh of 〈◊〉, who did serve himself with persons of unknown Parents, such as was Oliv●r the Barber, whom he created Earl of D●●●yes, and made him ●x secretis consilus, and alone in his favour, familiarity: his approaches to the university, and inns of Court were the grounds of his improvement, but they were rather excursions, than sieges, or settings down, for he stayed not long in a place, and being the youngest brother, and the house diminished in Patrimony, he foresaw his own destiny that he was first to roll (through want and disabil●ty, to subsist otherways) before he could come to a repose, and as the stone doth by long lying, gather moss: he first exposed himself to the Land service of Ireland, (a 〈◊〉) which then did not yield him food and raiment, (for it was ever very poor) nor had he patience to stay there, (though shortly after he came thither again) under the command of my Lord Grey▪ but with his own Colours flying in the field, having in the interim cast a new chance, both in the Low-Countries, and in a voyage to Sea; and if ever man drew virtue out of necessity, it was he, therewith was he the great example of industry, and though he might then have taken that of the Merchant to himself, 〈◊〉 mar●▪ p●r terras, curr●t me●c●tor ad Indos, He might also have said, and truly with the philosopher, Omnia mea mecum porto: For it was a long time before he could brag of more than he carried at his back, and when he got on the winning side, it was his commendation, that he took pains for it, and underwent many various adventures for his after perfection, and before he came into the public note of the world: and it may appear how he came up (per ardua) Per varios casus per t●● 〈◊〉 re●unt▪ not pulled up by chance, or by any gentle admittance of Fortune, I will briefly describe his native parts, and those of his own acquiring, which were the hopes of his rising.  
He had in the outward man, a good presence, in a handsome and well compacted person, a strong natural wit, and a better judgement, with a bold, and plausable tongue, whereby he could set out his parts to the best advantage, and to these he had the a●juncts of some general learning, which by diligence he enforced to a great augmentation, and perfection; for he was an indefatigable Reader, whether by Sea or Land, and none of the least observers both of men, and the times, and I am confident, that among the second causes, of his growth, that variance between him, and my Lord Grey, in his descent into ●●lan●, was a principal, for it drew them both over to the council Table, there to plead their cause, where (what advantage he had in the cause I know not) but he had much the better, in the telling of his tale, and so much, that the Queen and the Lords, took no slight mark of the man, and his parts, for from thence he came to be known, and to have a cease to the Queen, and the Lords, and then we are not to doubt how such a man would comply, and learn the way of progression, and whether or no my Lord of Leicester had then cast in a good for him, to the Queen which would have done no harm, I do not determine: but true it is, he had gotten the Queen's ear at a trice, and she began to be taken with his elocution, and loved to hear his reasons, to her demands, and the truth is she took him for a kind of Oracle, which nettled them all, yea those that he relied on, began to take this his sudden favour for an alarum, and to be sensible of their own supplantation, and to project his, which made him shortly after sing, Fortune my so, &c. So that finding his favour declining, and falling into a recess, he undertook a new peregrination to leave that Ter●a i●firma of the Court, for that of the wars, and by declining himself, and by absence to expel his, and the passion of his enemies, which in Court, was a strange device of recovery, but that he knew, there was some ill office done him, that he durst not attempt to mind any other ways, than by going aside, thereby to teach envy a new way of forgetfulness, and not so much as to think of him, howsoever he had it always in mind never to forget himself, and his device took so well, that at his return he came in (as rams do, by going backward) with the greater strength, and so continued to her last, great in her grace, and Captain of the Guard, where I must leave him, but with this observation, that though he gained much at the Court, yet he took it not out of the Exchequer, or merely out of the Queen's purse, but by his wit, and the help of the Prerogative, for the Queen was never profuse in the delivering out of her treasure, but paid many, and most of her servants part in money, and the rest with grace, which as the case stood, was taken for good payment, leaving the arrear of recompense due to their merit, to her great Successor, who paid them all with advantage.   

Grevill.  
SIR Faulk Grevill, since Lord Brook, had no mean place in her favour, neither did he hold it for any short term, for if I be not deceived, he had the longest lease, and the smoothest time without rub of any of her favourites; he came to the Court in his youth and prime, or that is the time or never, he was a brave Gentleman, and honourably descended from Willoughby Lord Brook, and admiral to Henry the 7. neither illiterate, for he was, as he would often profess a friend to Sir Philip Syd●ey, and there are of his now extant some fragments of his poem, and of those times, which do interest him in the Muses, and which shows, the Queen's election had ever a noble conduct, and it motions more of virtue and judgement, then of fancy. I find that he neither sought for, or obtained any great place or preferment in Court, during all the time of his attendance, neither did he need it, for he came thither backed with a plentiful Fortune, which as himself was wont to say, was the better held together by a single life, wherein he lived and died a constant Courtier of the Ladies.   

Essex.  
MY Lord of Essex (as Sir Henry Wotton a Gentleman of great parts, and partly of his times, and retinue observes) had his introduction by my Lord of Leicester, who had married his mother, a tye of affinity, which besides a more urgent obligation might have invited his care to advance him, his fortune being then (and through his father's infelicity) grown low; but that the son of a Lord Ferrer of Charley, Viscount Hartford, and Earl of Essex (who was of the ancient Nobility) and formerly in the Queen's good grace, could not have a room in her favour, without the assistance of Leicester, was beyond the rule of her nature, which as I have elsewhere taken into observation, was ever inclinable to favour the nobility: sure it is, that he no sooner appeared in Court, but he took with the Queen and Courtiers, and I believe they all could not choose, but look through the Sacrifice of the Father, on his living son, whose Image by the remembrance of former passages, was a fresh, (like the bleeding of men murdered) represented to the Court, and offered up as a Subject of compassion to all the kingdom. There was in this young Lord together with a most goodly person, a kind of urbanity, or innate courtesy, which both won the Queen, and too much took upon the people, to gaze upon the new adopted son of her favour: and as I go along, it were not amiss to take into observation too notable quotations: the first was a violent indulgency of the Queen, (which incident to old age, where it encounters with a pleasing and suitable object) towards this Lord, all which argued a none perpetuity, the second was a fault in the object of her grace; my Lord himself, who drew in too fast, like a child sucking on an over uberous Nurse, and had there been a more decent decorum observed in both, or either of those, without doubt, the unity of their affections, had been more permanent, and not so in and out as they were, like an instrument ill tuned, and lapsing to discord.  
The greater error of the two (though unwillingly) I am constrained to impose on my Lord of Essex, or rather on his youth, and none of the least of his blame, on those that stood Sentinels about him, who might have advised him better, but that like men intoxicated with hopes, they likewise had sucked in with the most, and of their Lord's receipt, and so like Caesars would have all or none, a rule quite contrary to nature, and the most indulgent parents, who though they may express more affection to one in the abundance of bequests: yet cannot forget some Legacies, just distributives, and dividents to others, of their begetting; and how hateful partiality proves, every day's experience tells us, out of which common consideration might have framed to their hands a maxim of more discretion for the conduct and management of their now graced Lord and Master.  
But to omit that of infusion, and to do right to truth, my Lord of Ess●x (even of those that truly loved and honoured him, was noted for too bold an engrosser, both of fame and favour, and of this (without offence to the living, or treading on the sacred urn of the dead) I shall present a truth, and a passage yet in memory.  
My Lord Mou●●●●y (who was another child of her favour) being newly come to Court, and then but Sir Charles ●luns (for my Lord William his Elder Brother, was then living) had the good fortune one day to run very well a Tilt, and the Queen therewith was so well pleased, that she sent him in token of her favour, a Queen at chess of gold richly ennameled, which his servants had the next day fastened on his arm, with a crimson ribbon, which my Lord of Essex as he passed through the Privy Chamber, espying, with his cloak cast under his arm, the better to commend it to the view, inquired what it was, and for what cause there fixed, Sir Foulk Grevill told him, that it was the Queen's favour, which the day before, and after the Tilting she had sent him, whereat my Lord of Essex in a kind of emulation, and as though he would have limited her favour, said now I perceive, every fool must have a favour, This bitter and publicly affront, came to Sir Charles Blu●ts ear, who sent him a challenge, which was accepted by my Lord, and they met near Marrybone Park, where my Lord was hurt in the thigh, and disarmed; the Queen missing the men, was very curious to learn the truth, and when at last, it was whispered out, she swore by God's death, it was fit that some one or other should take him down, and teach him better manners, otherwise there would be no rule with him: and here I note the innition of my Lord's friendship, with Mount●oy, which the Queen herself did then conjure.  
Now for fame, we need not go far, for my Lord of Essex having borne a grudge to general Norris, who had (unwittingly) offered to undertake the action of Britain with fewer men, than my Lord had before demanded, on his return with victory, and a glorious report of his valour, he was then thought the only man for the Irish war, wherein my Lord of Essex so wrought, by despising the number, and quality of Rebels, that Norris was sent over with a scanted force, joined with the relics of the veteran Troops of Britain, of set purpose (as it fell out) ●o ruin Norris, and the Lord Bu●rows, by my Lord's procurement sent▪ ●his heels, and to command in chief, and to confine Norris only to his Government at Munser, which broke the great heart of the general, to see himself undervalued, and undermined by my Lord and Burrows, which was as the Proverb speaks it, Imberbes docere senes.  
My Lord Burrows, in the beginning of his persecution died, whereupon the Queen was fully bent to have sent over Mountioy, which my Lord of Essex utterly disliked, and opposed with many reasons, and by arguments of contempt against Mountioy, his then professed friend and familiar, so predominant were his words, to reap the honour of closing up that war, and all other.  
Now the way being opened and plained by his own Workmanship, and so handled that none durst appear to stand for the place, at last, with much ado, he obtained his own ends, and withal his fatal destruction, leaving the Queen and the Court (Where he stood firm, and impregnable in her grace) to men that long had sought, and watched their times to give him the trip, and could never find any opportunity, but this of his absence, and of his own creation, and these are the true observations of his Appetite, and inclinations, which were not of any true proportion, but carried and transported with an over desire, and thi●stines after fame, and that deceitful fame of popularity, and to help on his Catastrophe: I observe likewise two sorts of people, that had a hand in his fall, the first was the soldiery, which all flocked unto him, as foretelling a mortality, and are commonly of blunt, and too rough counsels, and many times dissonant from the time of the Court, and the State; the other sort were of his family, his servants, and his own creatures, such as were bound by the rules of safety, and obligations of fidelity to have looked better to the steering of that Boat, wherein they themselves were carried, and not have suffered it to float and run on ground, with those empty sails of Fame and tumour of popular applause, methinks one honest man or other, that had but the office of brushing his clothes, might have whispered in his ear, my Lord look to it, this multitude that follows you, will either devour you, or undo you; strive not to rule, and over rule all, for it will cost hot water, and it will procure envy, and if needs your genius must have it so, let the Court, and the Queen's presence, be your station: but as I have said, they had sucked too much of their Lord's milk, and instead of withdrawing, they blew the Coals of his ambition, and infused into him too much of the Spirit of glory: yea, and mixed the goodness of his nature with a touch of revenge, which is ever accompanied with a destiny of the same fate, and of this number there were some of insufferable natures about him, that towar is his last, gave desperate advice, such as his integrity abhorred, and his fidelity forbade, amongst whom Sir Henry ●ott●n notes (without injury) his Secretary Cuff, a vileman, and of a perverse nature, I could also name others, that when he was in the right course of recovery, and settling to moderation, would not suffer a recess in him, but stirred up the dregs of those rude humours, which by time, and his affliction, out of his own judgement he sought to repose, or to give them all a vomit: and thus I conclude this noble Lord, as a mixture between prosperity, and adversity, once the child of his great Mistress favour, but the son of Bellona.   

Buckhurst.  
MY Lord of Buckhurst, was of the noble House of the Sackvills, and of the Queen's consanguinity, his Father was Sir Richard Sackvill, or as the people then called him, Fill-sack, by reason of his great wealth, and the vast Patrimony which he left to this his son, whereof he spent in his youth the best part, until the Queen by her frequent admonitions diverted the torrent of his profusion, he was a very fine Gentleman of person, and endowments both of art and nature, both without measure magnificient, till on the turn of his humour, and the allay that his years, and good counsels had wrought upon those immoderate courses of his youth, and that height of spirit, inherent to his House: and then did the Queen as a most judicious, and indulgent Prince, when she saw the man, grow stayed, and settled, give him her assistance, and advanced him to the Treasureship, where he made amends to his house, for his misspent time, both in the increasment of estate and honour, which the Queen conferred on him, together with the opportunity to remake himself, and thereby to show that this was a child, that should have a share in her grace, and a taste of her bounty. They much commend his elocution, but more the excellency of his pen, for he was a scholar, and a person of a quick dispatch (faculties, that yet run in the blood) and they say of him, that his Secretaries did little for him, by the way of indictment, wherein they could seldom please him, he was so facet and choice in his phrase, and style, and for his dispatches, and the content he gave to Suitors, he had a decorum seldom since put in practice; for he had of his attendants that took into roll, the names of all Suitors, with the date of their first addresses, and these in their order had hearing, so that a fresh man, could not leap over his head, that was of a more ancient edition, except in the urgent affairs of State. I find not that he was any ways ensnared in the factions of the Court, which were all his times strong, and in every man's note the Howards and the ●●cills of the one part, my Lord of Essex, etc on the other part, for he held the Staff of the Treasury fast in his hand, which once in the year made then all beholding to him, and the truth is (as he was a wise man, and a stout) he had no reason to be a partaker: for he stood sure in blood, and in grace, and was wholly intentive to the Queen's service, and such were his abilities, that she received assiduous proofs of his sufficiency, and it hath been thought, that she might have more cunning instruments, but none of a more strong judgement and confidence in his ways, which are symptoms of magnanimity and fidelity, whereunto methinks this Motto hath some kind of reference, aut nunq iam tents aut perfice. As though he would have charactered in a word the Genius of his House, or expressed somewhat of an higher inclination, then lay within his compass, That he was a Courtier, is apparent, for he stood always in her eye and favour.   

Lord Mountjoy.  
MY Lord Mountioy was of the ancient Nobility, but utterly deceived in the support thereof, Patrimony, through his grandfather's excess in the action of Bullen, his father's vanity in the search of the philosopher's stone, and his Brothers untimely prodigalities, all which seemed by a joint conspiracy to ruin the house, and altogether to annihilate it: as he came from Oxford, he took tho Inner-Temple in his way to Court, whither no sooner came, but (without asking) he had a pretty strange kind of admission, which I have heard from a discreet man, of his own, and much more of the secrets of those times, he was then much about twenty years of age, of a Brown-hair, a sweet face, a most neat Composure, and tall in his person, the Queen was then at Whitehall, and at dinner, whither he came to see the fashion of the Court the Queen had soon found him out, and with a kind of an affected frown, asked the Lady Car●er what he was, she answered she knew him not, insomuch as an inquiry was made from one to another, who he might be, till at length, it was told the Queen, he was Brother to the Lord William Mountioy, this inquisition with the eye of Majesty fixed upon him, (as she was wont to do, and to daunt men she knew not) stirred the blood of this young Gentleman, insomuch as his colour came and went, which the Queen observing, called him unto her, and gave him her hand to kiss, encouraging him with gracious words, and new looks, and so diverting her speech to the Lords, and Ladies, She said, that she no sooner observed him, but that she knew there was in him some noble blood, with some other expressions of pity towards his House, and then again demanding his name, She said, fail you not to come to the Court, and I will be think myself how to do you good; and this was his inlet, and the beginnings of his grace, where it falls into consideration, that though he wanted not wit and courage, for he had very fine atractions, and being a good piece of a scholar, yet were they accompanied with the retractives of bashfulness, and a natural modesty (which as the toan of his house, & the ebb of his fortune then stood, might have hindered his progression, had they not been reinforced▪ by the infusion of sovereign favour, and the Queen's gracious invitation. And that it may appear how low he was, and how much that heretic necessity, will work in the dejection of good spirits, I can deliver it with assurance, that his exhibition was very scant until his Brother died, which was shortly after his admission to the Court, and then was it no more than a thousand Marks ●er annum, wherewith he lived plentifully in a fine way and garb, and without any great sustentation, during all her times, and as there was in his nature a kind of backwardness, which did not befriend him, nor suit with the motion of the Court, so there was in him an inc●ination to arms, with a humour of travelling, and gadding abroad, which had not some wise men about him laboured to remove, and the Queen herself laid in her commands, he would (out of his natural propension) have marred his own market, for as he was grown by reading (whereunto he was much addicted) to the theory of a soldier, so was he strongly invicted by his genius, to the acquaintance of the practic of the war, which were the causes of his excursions, for he had a Company in the Low-Countries, from whence he came over with a Noble acceptance of the Queen, but somewhat restless, in honourable thoughts he exposed himself again, and again, and would press the Queen with the pretences of visiting his Company so often, that at length he had a flat denial, and yet he stole over with Sir John Norris, into the action of Britain, (which was then a hot and active war) whom he would always call his Father, honouring him above all men, and ever bewailing his end, so contrary he was in his esteem, and valuation of this great Commander to that of his friend, my Lord of Essex, till at last the Queen began to take his decessions for contempts, and confined his residence to the Court, and her own presence, and upon my Lord of Essex fall (so confident she was in her own Princely judgement, and opinion she had conceived of his worth and conduct) that she would have this noble Gentleman, and none other, to finish, and bring the Irish war to a propitious end: for it was a prophetical speech of her own, that it would be his fortune, and his honour to cut the thread of that fatal rebellion, and to bring her in peace to the grave, where she was not deceived, for he achieved it, but with much pains, and carefulness, and not without the fears, and many jealousies of the Court, and times, wherewith the Queen's age, and the malignity of her setting times were replete, and so I come to his dear friend in Court, Master Secretary Cecil, whom in his long absence from Court, he adored as his Saint, and Courted for his only Maecenas, both before and after his departure from Court, and during all the times of his command in Ireland, well knowing that it lay in his power, and by a word of his mouth to make or mar him.   

Cecil.  
SIR Robert Cecil, since Earl of Salisbury, was the son of the Lord Burleigh and in the inheritor of his wisdom, and by degrees, Successor of his places and favours, though not of his Lands, for he had Sir Thomas Cecil his elder brother, since created Earl of Exete●, he was first Secretary of State, than Master of the Wards, and in the last of her reign came to be Lord Treasurer, all which were the steps of his father's greatness, and of the honour he left to his House. For his person he was not much beholding to nature, though somewhat for his face, which was the best part of his outside, but for his inside, it may be said, and without solecism, that he was his Fathers own son, and a pregnant proficient in all discipline of State: He was a Courtier from his Cradle, (Which might have made him betimes) yet at the age of twenty and upwards (he was much short of his after proof, but exposed, and by change of climate he soon made show, what he was, and would be, he lived in those times wherein the Queen had most need, and use of men of weight, and amongst able ones, this was a chief, as having his sufficiency from his instructions that begat him, the tutorship of the times, and Court, which were then the Academies of Art and cunning, for such was the Queen's condition from the tenth or twelfth of her reign, that she had the happiness to stand up (whereof there is a former intimation) though environed with more enemies, and assaulted with more dangerous practices, than any Prince of her times, and of many ages before, neither must we in this her preservation attribute to much to human policies, for that God in his omnipotent providence, had not only ordained those secondary means as instruments of the work, but by an evident manifestation, that the same work which she acted, was a well pleasing service of his own, out of a peculiar care had decreed the protection of the work-Mistris, and thereunto added his abundant blessing upon all, and whatsoever she undertook, which is an observation of satisfaction to myself, that she was in the right, though to others now breathing under the same form, and frame of her Government, it may not seem an animadversion of any worth, but I leave them to the peril of their own folly. And so again to this great Master of State, and the staff of the Queen's declinning age, who though his little crooked person could not promise any great supportation, yet it carried thereon a head, and a headpiece of a vast content, and therein it seems nature was so diligent to complete one, and the best part about him, as that to the perfection of his memory, and intellectuals, she took care also of his senses, and to put him in 〈◊〉 oculos, or to pleasure him the more borrowed of Argns so to give unto him a prospective sight, and for the rest of his sensitive virtues, his predecessor Walsingham had left him a receipt, to smell out what was done in the conclave, and his good old Father, was so well seen in the mathematics, as that he could tell you throughout all Spain, every part, every Ship, with their burdens, whither bound with preparation, what impediments for diversion, of enterprises, counsels, and resolutions, and that we may see (as in a little Map) how docible this little man was; I will present a taste of his abilities. My Lord of Devonshir● (upon the certainty the Spaniard would invade Ireland with a strong Army) had written very earnestly to the Queen and the council, for such supplies to be timely sent over, that might enable him to march up to the Spaniard, if he did land, and follow on his prosecution against the Rebels. Sir Robert Cecil, (besides the general dispatch of the council, as he often did) Wrote this in private, for these two began then to love dearly.  
My Lord, Out of the abundance of my affection, and the care I have of your well doing, I must in private put you out of doubt, (for I fear, I know you cannot be otherwise sensible then in the way of honour) that the Spaniard will not come unto you this year, for I have it from my own, what preparations are in all his parts, and what he can do, for be confident, he beareth up a reputation by seeming to embrace more than he can gripe, but the next year be assured he will cast over unto you, some forlorn hopes, which how they may be reinforced beyond his present ability, and his first intention, I cannot, as yet make any certain judgement; but I believe out of my intelligence, that you may expect their landing in Munster, and the more to distract you, in several places, as at Kings-Sail, Beer-haven, Baltimore, where you may be sure (coming from Se●) they will first fortify, and learn the strength of the Rebels, before they dare take the field, howsoever (as I know you will not) lessen your care, neither your defences, and whatsoever lies within my power to do you, and the public service, rest thereof assured.  
And to this I would add much more, but it may (as it is) suffice to present much, as his abilities in the pen, that he was his craft's Master in foreign intelligence, and for domestic affairs, as he was one of those that sat at the stern to the last of the Queen, so was he none of the least in skill, and in the true use of the compass, and so I shall only vindicate the scandal of his death, and conclude him, for he departed at Saint Margaret's near Marl●borough, in his return from the Bath, as my Lord Viscount Cranborne, my Lord Clifford his son, and son in Law, myself, and many more can witness, but that the day before he sounded in the way, was taken out of the Litter, and laid into his Coach, was a truth, out of which that falsehood, concerning the manner of his death, had its derivation, though nothing to the purpose, or to the prejudice of his worth.   

Vere.  
SIR Francis Vere was of the ancient, and the most noble extract of the Earls of Oxford, and it may be a question, whether the nobility of his house, or the honour of his achievements, might most commend him, but that we have an authentic rule to decide the doubt, Nam genus & proavos, & quae non ●ecimus ipsi Vix●a nostra voco. For though he were an honourable slip of that ancient Tree of nobility (which was no disadvantage to his virtue) yet he brought more glory to the name of Vere than he took of blood, from the Family. He was amongst the Queen's swordmen, inferior to none, but superior to many, of whom it may be said, to speak much of him, were the way to leave out something that might add to his praise, and to forget more that could add to his honour. I find not, that he came much to the Court, for he lived almost perpetually in the Camp, but when he did, no man had more of the Queen's favour, and none less envied, for he seldom troubled it with the jealousy and alarms of supplantation, his way was another sort of undermining, they report that the Queen (as she loved martial men) would Court this Gentleman, as soon as he appeared in her presence, and surely he was a soldier of great worth, and commanded thirty years in the service of the States, and twenty years, over the English in chief, as the Queen's general, and he that had seen the battle of Newport might there best have taken him, and his noble Brother, my Lord of Tilbury to the life.   

Worces●er.  
MY Lord of Worcester I have here put last, but not least in the Queen's favour, he was of the ancient and noble blood of the 〈◊〉, and of her grandfather's line, by the Mother, which the Queen could never forget, especially where there was a concunency of old blood with fidelity, a mixture which ever sorted with the Queen's nature, and though there might appear something in this House, which might avert her grace, (though not to speak of my Lord himself, but with due reverence and honour) I mean contrariety or suspicion in religion, yet the Queen ever respected this House, and principally this noble Lord, whom she first made Master of the Horse, and then admitted of her council of State; in his youth (part whereof he spent before he came to reside at Court) he was a very fine Gentleman, and the best Horseman and Tilter of the times, which were then the manlike and noble recreations of the Court, and such as took up the applause of men, as well as the praise and commendation of Ladies, and when years had abated these exercises of honour, he grew then to be a faithful and profound councillor, and as I have placed him last, so was he the last liver of all the Servants of her favour, and had the honour to see his renowned Mistress, and all of them laid in the places of their rest, and for himself, after a life of a very noble and remarkable reputation, he died rich, and in a peaceable old age, a fate, (that I make the last, and none of the slightest observations) which befell not many of the rest, for they expired like unto lights blown out, with the snuff stinking, not commendably extinguished, and with offence to the standers by. And thus have I delivered up this my poor assay, a little draught of this great Princess, and her times, with the Servants of her State, and favour, I cannot say, I have finished it, for I know how defective and imperfect it is, as limbed only in the original nature, not without the active blemishes, and so left it as a task fitter for remote times, and the sallies of some bolder pencil to correct that which is amiss, and draw the rest up to life, as for me to have endeavoured it, I took it to consideration how easily I might have dashed in too much of the strain of pollution, and thereby have defaced that little which is done, for I profess I have taken care so to master my Pen, that I might not (ex animo, or of set purpose) discolour truth, or any of the parts thereof, otherwise then in concealment. Happily there are some which will not approve of this modesty, but will censure me for pusillanimity, and with great cunning Artists attempt to draw their line further out at large, and upon this of mine, which may (with somewhat more ease) be effected for that the frame is ready made to their hands, and then happily I could draw one in the midst of theirs, but that modesty in me forbids the defacements of men departed, whose posterity yet remaining, enjoys the merit of their virtues, and do still live in their honour: and I had rather incur the censure of abruption, then to be conscious, and taken in the manner of sinning by eruption, and of trampling on the graves of persons at rest, which living, we durst not look in the face, nor make our addresses to them, otherwise then with due regards to their honours, and renown to their virtues.  
FINIS.